IATEFL Conference 2024 Plenary: The AI factor have we figured it out?

The development of AI has become a huge challenge. Predictions abound about how it will affect not just ELT, but the world in general. After a whole year of fast-moving advances in AI development and available tools for a variety of uses within the ELT field, we are still working out what it means for us. We have been learning what it is and what we can use it for, from lesson planning to image creation and automated language learning. But there is more! We have also been trying to elucidate its positive and negative aspects, though it is all quite subjective. Reducing a teacher’s workload, marking learners’ work, planning a marketing campaign can be placed in different parts of the positive-negative continuum. What seems apparent is that it is changing the ELT landscape. But how? What are the implications for different stakeholders in the language learning industry? And how are we coping withthe challenges it poses? Becoming aware of AI’s functioning so that we can detect biases and work together towards an ethical use of AI seems to be a logical pathway, which we will explore together in this talk.

About Vicky:
Vicky Saumell is a teacher, trainer, materials writer and presenter. She holds a degree in Spanish-English Literary and Technical Translation, a Diploma in the Theory and Methodology of TESOL and a degree in Educational Technology. She has worked as a writer and trainer for major publishers, especially in the areas of project-based learning and the meaningful use of digital technologies for language learning and their impact. She has been the IATEFL LTSIG Coordinator and a member of IATEFL Publications
Committee. She currently teaches at primary and secondary level schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as continuing her freelance work.